The casting for Herve destroyed the entire picture. Why is it that American young people believe that people who lived long ago were dreary, dull and lifeless? Or was it just the actor's choice? The director should have just dumped him when he saw the first work from this guy. How many other pictures have fired an actor who was just miscast? So the director is definitely at fault for his casting choice. He should have picked a decent French or British actor. Those Brits are great a playing reserved characters that show a huge volcano of emotion lying just below the surface. They can do more with their eyes and facial expressions than certain American actors can do with a page of dialogue. And I have never seen an unemotional French actor. They at least inject a spark into the dialogue, or a roguish glint in their eyes, a passion in their delivery. That's why this immature American actor is so freaking unbelievable as a French adventurer.
The cinematography was beautiful. The music fit the melancholy. But the script was shorthand at best. There was zero character development. I bought the movie for Kiera Knightly, but she was given very little script to work with and this lifeless American gave her back nothing to play against.
I cannot fathom how we are supposed to understand how the girl in Japan is supposed to have fallen in love with this filthy, unshaven European who probably hadn't had a bath in a month and had absolutely NO personality. If the book was good (I have no idea), this movie did a terrible job of translating it to the screen.
Even at the end, when we are supposed to feel something emotionally, I felt zero, nada, nothing.
This movie is a series of beautifully shot still photographs, with no character, no little moments that make you really care about the people in it. And the idea of Herve being an adventurer is so absurd as to be laughable. If he was in a western he would have been humiliated in a bar or shot off his horse. He just looks completely weak and lifeless.
Don't waste your time or your money. I gave it a 3 for the cinematography and the 3 decent actors. Herve gets a minus 10.
The cinematography was beautiful. The music fit the melancholy. But the script was shorthand at best. There was zero character development. I bought the movie for Kiera Knightly, but she was given very little script to work with and this lifeless American gave her back nothing to play against.
I cannot fathom how we are supposed to understand how the girl in Japan is supposed to have fallen in love with this filthy, unshaven European who probably hadn't had a bath in a month and had absolutely NO personality. If the book was good (I have no idea), this movie did a terrible job of translating it to the screen.
Even at the end, when we are supposed to feel something emotionally, I felt zero, nada, nothing.
This movie is a series of beautifully shot still photographs, with no character, no little moments that make you really care about the people in it. And the idea of Herve being an adventurer is so absurd as to be laughable. If he was in a western he would have been humiliated in a bar or shot off his horse. He just looks completely weak and lifeless.
Don't waste your time or your money. I gave it a 3 for the cinematography and the 3 decent actors. Herve gets a minus 10.